Enhancement of mechanical strength in Y–Ba–Cu–O bulk superconductor through liquid binder addition

Abstract

We have studied the effects of the liquid binder (polyvinyl alcohol) addition (0–10wt%) on the mechanical properties of the green compacts and also on the superconducting properties of bulk Y–Ba–Cu–O superconductors of 20mm diameter produced with the top-seeded melt growth (TSMG) process. The mechanical properties of the green compacts with binder addition were characterized with the compression tests, which revealed that mechanical strength increased dramatically with increasing the amount of the binder addition. The binder-added green compacts were then subjected to the TSMG process and oxygen annealing. The trapped field measurements showed that we could produce single-grain bulk Y–Ba–Cu–O samples with binder additions up to 8wt% without any deterioration in the superconducting properties.